The Constant Path
by StarSign
Summary: Animated/G1 crossover! An accident with the Decepticon space bridge throws Prowl and Bumblebee into a familiar world with some not so familiar faces. Madness ensues. Rated to be safe. First fic so be gentle.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers in any way._

_This is my first fanfiction so please bare with me._

_This idea has been rattling around in my head since I started watching Transformers Animated so I hope you like it. __I don't know if anyone else has been struck by this one but it was just one of those naggling concepts that just wouldn't go away._

_Note: This is set at the end of 'Abridge too far' and I have changed a few scenes to fit my story but I promise I won't change it too much._

CONSTANT PATH

**Decepticon Base – Michigan  
**

It was hard to believe it had come to this. The Decpticons finally had a fully operational space bridge and it was all thanks to the Autobots. Megatron barely contain his excitement at finally being able to lead his Decepticons to victory against the Autobots, on Cybertron no less. Still with the possibility that the idiotic Autobot somehow managed to sabotage the space bridge it only seemed right to test it first.

Grabbing the young Autobot leader from the floor he strolled over to the vortex intent on using the young Prime as the guinepig to test the new space bridge.

Realising what Megatron was planning the other Autobots renewed their efforts to free themselves in order to save their leader but with Bumblebee stuck to the cavern wall with concrete and Bulkhead and Prowl in stasis cuffs like their leader it seemed impossible.

Suddenly the earth shook and an explosion behind the space bridge sent dust an debris everywhere. Glancing up the Autobots could just make out the unmistakable red and yellow of their old ship firing it's great cannon down onto the Decepticon base.

Growling in frustration Megatron tightened his grip on the young Prime and ordered Blitzwing and Lugnut along with the rest of the Starscream clones to attack to ship while Constructicons cleared the debris from the space bridge.

Determined to make use of the Decpticon's distraction Prowl tuned out the surrounding chaos and calmed himself. The stasis cuffs on his wrists were tight so he turned all his focus on them and began to concentrate. He hadn't even known that he was humming until Bumblebee rudely pointed it out to him but he couldn't allow himself to be distracted by the yellow mech. Concentration centred solely on the stasis cuffs the dark armoured mech could feel a faint vibration, almost undetectablt running beneath his armour and down to the cuffs at his wrists. He was vaguely aware of Bumblebee's voice as the little scout once again voiced his opinion about the noise he was making and made some crack about a fan belt but it didn't matter because at that moment his concentration paid off as the stasis cuffs snapped open with a soft hiss.

Having freed himself he glanced up just in time to see Megatron hurl Optimus toward the vortex and wasted no time as he unlatched a throwing star from his armour and threw after his leader. The star hit it's mark, snapping the cuffs from Prime's wrists allowing the red and blue mech to fire his grappler at a stunned Megatron and pull himself away from the vortex before Megatron realised what was happening and brought his sword down to sever the cable. He was too late as Optimus landed safely on his feet as the vortex collapsed behind him.

**Decepticon Space Bridge – Oregon**

'Will you two hurry up! I have more important things to do than deliver a few measly energon cubes to that insufferable kiss-aft!' Came the unmistakable scream from the red and grey jet as he finished loading the last of the cubes into the pod that would allow them to be safely transported through the space bridge.

It had taken a lot of time and a lot of failed attempts but the Decepticons had finally developed a way of transporting energon cubes through the space bridge without them destabilising in transit. The pods Starscream had developed effectively blocked the vortex radiation that was causing the cubes to become unstable in the first place.

The down side to this development being that the Autobots had become even more of a nuisance in their attempts to stop them from transporting energy to their forces on Cybertron now that they knew the Decepticons could actually do it successfully. That and the since Starscream had developed the things in the first place the already irritating scientist had become even more unbearable to live with.

Thundercracker grumbled in annoyance from the controls of the space bridge and turned to glare at the scarlet jet.

'Can it Screamer! We don't like it out here either so stop going on about it!'

It was true even the organics weren't even out in the heat. It was particularly hot this year with the lack of rainfall and blazing summer sun making the desert almost unbearable even for wildlife. To the Decepticons though the dry heat was just plain irritating.

'DON'T CALL ME SCREAMER!' The air commander yelled indignantly and stomped over to where Skywarp was, crouched over next an open panel on the side of the bridge and glared over the mech's shoulder as he glanced over the small blue box he had just installed.

'What exactly is this thing anyway?' Skywarp asked as he began bolting the panel back into place.

A smug smirk appeared on Starscream's faceplate making the purple seeker instantly sorry he asked.

'This THING is a little something I put together to confuse the Autobot's scanners and make it harder for them to track the space bridge.' The scarlet seeker declared proudly.

Straightening up Skywarp raised a dubious optic ridge at the air commander.

'Make it harder hmm…..you mean the great and powerful Starscream can't actually STOP the Autobots from detecting the space bridge?! I'm disappointed.' The purple jet smirk mischievously as Starscream's gaze turned murderous and he all but exploded. Starscream was just too much fun to frag off.

'Why you ungrateful…….at least I can hit an Autobot when I aim at them. You couldn't hit an Autobot even if one flew past your nosecone!' He spat angrily and stomped back to the control console and Thundercracker who was giving him a frustrated glare.

'WHAT?!'

**Decepticon Base – Michigan**

Having discovered that a single piece of the Allspark wasn't going to be enough Starscream found himself, well his head anyway, being hastily shoved into the space bridge power matrix by Mixmaster. Once again the vortex opened and everyone immediately realised something was wrong.

'Megatron…the receiving code has been deleted….Megatron…..' The connection with Shockwave on Cybertron was lost and it was obvious that wherever the vortex was going it certainly wasn't to Cybertron as the pull of the vortex gradually increased and it started to pull rocks and debris into Primus knew where.

Bulkhead confirmed that the Allspark pieces had overloaded the system as Prime swiftly brought his axe down to break the big mech's stasis cuffs while Prowl clung to the wall, chipping away the concrete that held Bumblebee until the little mech could break himself free. Thankfully it didn't take long as he and Prowl landed next to the others.

'Ah great! What now bossbot?' Bumblebee asked nervously as they watched huge chunks of rock being dragged into the swirling blue vortex.

Looking around anxiously Optimus surveyed their situation. From the sounds coming from outside it appeared that a battle was still going on but it was impossible to hear who was winning over noise of the vortex. The Constructicons were cowering in a corner near space bridge control console and Megatron wasn't far from where the Autobots stood in front of the vortex. The Decepticon leader had embedded his great sword in ground to prevent himself from being pulled in by the space bridge however the pull from the vortex was still increasing indicating that an overload was imminent.

That settled it.

'We need to get out of here before this place goes up! Prowl, find Professor Sumdac and get out of here with Bulkhead and Bumblebee. I'm going to retrieve the Allspark fragments from the space bridge controls.'

The bots just stared at him like he had lost his central processor.

'Are you out of your cranial unit! Prime forget the Allspark and lets get outta here before we all end up as space debris!' Bumblebee yelled franticly but it was too late and he looked on in horror as Optimus slowly edged his way towards the control console. Wasting no time Prowl took off towards the other side of the space bridge to retrieve the professor.

'NO BUMBLEBEE! I promised to protect the Allspark with my life if I have to!'

'He's NUTS!' The little mech threw up his hands and slumped in defeat. A large three-pronged hand brushed his back and he glanced up at Bulkhead.

'Don't worry little buddie, I agree with ya.' The big green mech smiled widely.

'What? That we should just forget the Allspark?'

'Nope. That Prime's nuts.' At this the larger mech didn't quite manage to keep a straight face but it had the desired effect anyway as Bumblebee burst out laughing.

Megatron glared furiously at the Autobots from his position stuck in front of the space bridge with rocks and debris battering his frame as it was pulled into the vortex behind him. If he was going to be pulled through to Primus knew where then he intended to take a least one Autobot down with him. Gripping the remains of Optimus's grappler in his hand he sought out the accursed Autobots as they hurried to make their escape. The big green one and the yellow annoyance were out of his reach, stood near the base entrance as they were and Megatron couldn't contain his growl of frustration as he realised that the leader was also out of his reach as Optimus was now stood at the control console and out of the vortex's pull.

Suddenly a flash of movement on the other side of the room caught his attention and he grinned in triumph. The ninjabot stood no more than twenty feet away while he rescued Professor Sumdac from his glass prison.

What was his name? Oh yes.

Prowl.

This was perfect.

He hadn't forgotten that it was this mech that had cut his arm of aboard the Autobot ship all those years ago or that it was he who was responsible for rescuing his leader from space bridge.

Gripping the sword hilt with his cannon arm he wrapped the end of the cable firmly around his now free hand and waited for the ninjabot to move.

With the human scientist in his hands Prowl turned and began making his way over to his friends having to lean forward due to the pull of the vortex behind him.

Megatron planned on using that against him as he pulled his arm back and lashed out with the grappler, smirking in victory as it caught his prey tightly around the ankles he pulled back. Hard.

'PROWL!'

'PROWL!'

It took all of three seconds for Prowl to realise what was happening but thanks his training and quick reflexes three seconds was all it took for him to throw the professor to Bumblebee waiting hands before fell to the ground.

Glancing over his shoulder did nothing to ease his panicked processor when he saw it was Megatron who had him, the end of Prime's grappler cable gripped firmly in his hand and a dark smirk on his faceplate that made him shudder in spite of himself.

Just then a massive explosion from outside the base caused the ground to shake sending those that weren't already down to the ground.

Megatron's smirk slipped from his faceplate, the sudden shock had dislodged his sword and it flew out of his hand and into the vortex behind him. With nothing to hold onto the only thing he could do was grip the grappler cable with both hands and hang on.

The sudden tug backwards had Prowl scrabbling for purchase on the cave floor but it was no use, the surface was too smooth and any rocks he found came loose in his hands as he found himself begin dragged backwards towards the vortex.

'PROWL NO!'

The panicked cry was lost over the noise but even as Megatron disappeared through the space bridge he was still being pulled back.

A pair of yellow hands suddenly latched onto his and he stared up in shock to find Bumblebee gripping his hands tightly while the wheels on his heels span madly in reverse on the smooth floor.

'Bumblebee let go! Get out of here!'

But his plea fell on deaf audios as a great shadow fell over the base and Prowl looked up in surprise to see Omega Supreme descending towards them right before Bumblebee's wheels stopped spinning and everything went black.

**Decepticon Space Bridge – Oregon**

'What the frag!'

Tapping the controls Thundercracker frowned at the readings.

'What is taking you so long?' Came Shockwave's annoyed voice from the small screen on the console.

The pod was loaded on the space bridge platform ready to be sent and a small beep from the console confirmed that the connection on Cybertron was open and ready to receive. But according to the readings Thundercracker was looking at there was already an incoming transmission but he couldn't find out where it was coming from.

'Hey Shockwave, have a look at this.' He forwarded the readings to Shockwave from the console.

'This is not possible. The only active space bridges in existence are on Earth and here on Cybertron.' Shockwave looked, if it were possible, uneasy and it made Thundercracker nervous.

'Then what the frag is….'

His sentence was cut off as the space bridge suddenly activated by itself and the sky opened up to a massive swirling vortex throwing the pod off the platform and into a nearby cliff face where it exploded sending dust and rock everywhere.

Skywarp and Starscream who had been watching out for meddling Autobots quickly landed least they be blown away and ran back to the space bridge.

'What's going on?!'

'What did you do?!'

Gripping the console the blue jet was about to respond when as suddenly as it appeared, the vortex vanished leaving a cloud of dust as the only evidence of it ever being there.

The three seekers glanced at each other nervously, unsure what to do.

Walking around the console Thundercracker cautiously made his way to the platform, his wing-mates close behind him and touched the panel to open the door.

He nearly jumped out of his plating when his optics landing on what was inside.

Staring over his wing Starscream eyed the figure in disgust.

'You have got to be fragging kidding me!'

_**to be continued...............**_

_Love it? Hate it? _

_I apologise for any spelling or grammatical errors if I have time I'll fix them but I want to try and finish this story while it's still fresh in my mind._


	2. Chapter 2

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers in any way._

_Thanks for the reviews everyone. I'll try my best to keep things interesting. ^^_

_As to who should end up where, space bridge wise? Well, I was a mass of indecision. _

_(No seriously. I couldn't make up my bloody mind!)_

_But here it so I hope it turns out ok._

**CONSTANT PATH**

**Decepticon Space Bridge – Oregon**

The dust was beginning to settle around space bridge platform but the three stunned seekers found themselves unable to move as they stared at the still figure on the platform.

'You have got to be fragging kidding me!' Starscream repeated, slightly louder this time and it seemed to snap the others from their daze.

'Is that who I think it is?' Skywarp gestured nervously as he stared over Thundercracker's other wing at the mass of gleaming dark metal in the center of the platform.

The metal stirred at the sound of the seeker's voice and slowly began to uncurl and rise to its' full height, causing the three seekers to take a nervous step back.

They couldn't believe their optics. This mech was undoubtedly their leader, Megatron but………

His armour……..

Whereas their leader's armour was plain grey with black details this mech's armour shone with a darkness that could leave even the bravest of Decepticons trembling in fear. Dark grey armour covered his chest, abdomen and thighs with scarlet plating on his sides and upper arms while the mech's hand, lower leg and hip plating was black like their own leader, along with his fusion cannon and he appeared to have some kind of launcher atop each of his shoulder struts.

But it was his optics that scared them as he gazed back at the jets with a look of barely contained fury as he tried to make sense of the situation he suddenly found himself in.

'_What's this? More clones?'_ Megatron mused in disgust as he glared at the three jets standing in his way.

These three were obviously Decepticons and at first glance the Decepticon leader thought them to be nothing more than some of Starscream's clones.

However he was proved wrong as the red and silver jet roughly shoved the blue and black jet to one side stormed onto the platform to point an accusing finger at him.

'Alright, who are you and what are you doing here?!'

The irritating scream in his voice was unmistakable and the Decepticon leader tensed, pulling his lips tight against his dental plates to snarl at the traitorous seeker. So he was half right, but just as he was about to raise his fusion cannon and blow the fragger to the 'Well of Allsparks' the purple and black jet stepped forward and tugged at Starscream's elbow.

'What are you doing Screamer?! Are you trying to get us all slagged?' the purple seeker hissed angrily as he tried to pull Starscream back.

Megatron stared at the purple jet in mild shock.

From what he had learned about Starscream's clones when confronted with them was that, apart from possessing different aspects of the seeker's personality they all possessed the seeker's screaming vocal modulation. Even the femme. He shuddered to think of what part of Starscream's personality SHE came from.

But this purple jet didn't sound like Starscream and with that revelation he turned his attention to all three of them in turn, silently taking note of their differences while they argued amongst themselves.

Starscream growled at the purple jet, angrily yanking his arm away before rounding on the bemused Decepticon leader once more.

'That is not Megatron! It's some sort of Autobot trick!'

Growing impatient Megatron took a small step towards the seekers and as he expected they all took an unconscious step back. Megatron tried hard to hide his amusement, apparently they were intimidated by his appearance just like the Autobots were.

Smirking to himself he realised that the only way he was going to find out what was going on was by actually communicating with the idiotic seekers. His sensors scanned the surrounding area but it seemed that wherever he was it definitely wasn't Michigan.

Keeping his posture relaxed he raised his hands slightly in a gesture so as to appear non-threatening and finally addressed the seekers.

'Fellow Decepticons, it's seems that I find myself to be in a most unique situation. Perhaps you would care to assist me?'

The seekers just stared at him in shock. It seemed that he had only succeeded in making them more nervous.

He sighed in mild annoyance.

'I promise that I mean you no harm. After all, do we not fight for the same cause?'

This appeared to calm them somewhat and Starscream stood in front of his fellow seekers, warily eyeing the Decepticon leader as he ran every scan within his ability to try and determine exactly what he was dealing with. But the more data he collected the more questions he found himself unable to answer and it was starting to piss him off.

'If you're not Megatron then just who exactly are you?' he finally asked in frustration.

Megatron smirked to himself and lowered his hands to his sides. His sharp mind was already developing a pretty good idea of what had happened with the space bridge. He would need the seekers' help to prove it of course, but still. Starscream's reaction alone had told him the two things he needed to know to help him win their trust. That he, Megatron was still leader of the Decepticons, and that the Autobots were still the enemy.

Glancing over his shoulder Megatron's smirk showed as he noticed the black and gold mech for the first time. So he had succeeded in taking an Autobot with him. The cyberninja was still offline. The grappler cable still pulled tight around his ankles, the ninja had apparently landed behind him when falling from the vortex so his body had been obscured by Megatron's own when they landed.

This was just what Megatron needed and he turned around to the seekers once more.

'You will find it hard to believe but if you are willing to take me back to your base I will be more than happy to explain.' He said in almost enticing tone.

The other two seekers glanced at one another unconvinced but the evasive answer had peeked Starscream's curiosity as the Decepticon leader hoped it would, and he pointed threateningly at Megatron.

'How do we know this isn't some kind of trap set up by the Autobots to locate our base?!'

Megatron gave the jet a sly smile and stepped to one side, revealing the Autobot behind him.

'Because if you take me there I will explain and give you this Autobot as a gift to do with as you see fit.'

Staring at the black and gold mech at Megatron's feet the seekers looked at Starscream with sadistic excitement at the thought of an Autobot prisoner.

Starscream optics also brightened as he stared at the offline Autobot, all sorts of ideas running through his processor about what he could do to the mech.

Starscream smirked in anticipation before looking back at Megatron, his decision made.

'Very well, but if I find out that you're lying then I will personally send to the scrap heap!'

Megatron grinned in triumph. The first battle was won.

As the blue jet passed him to pick up the Autobot Megatron thought about how he was going to make this play out in his favour.

Not knowing how he was going to get back to his own world, he was fairly certain to expect no help from his own Decepticons so the only way he was going to get home was to hope that the Decepticons in this one were smarter than his own.

He was relieved to see that space bridge technology not only existed but was also under Decepticon control in this world so all that remained was to try and recreate the vortex that had sent him here.

The Autobot seemed to have worked well as a peace offering and he found himself feeling curious about the conflict here. Maybe he could learn something that would give the Decepticons an advantage over the Autobots in his own world.

Shaking his head, Megatron tried to clear his thoughts.

No. He was getting ahead of himself and besides, this all depended on how the Megatron of this world reacted to his presence.

As he took to the air with the seekers a human phrase suddenly popped into his processor and he grinned at the irony.

'_That's right. Take me to your leader.'_

**Space Bridge Control – Cybertron**

Coming back online he couldn't help the pained groan, his joints protesting against the movement as he pushed himself up into his hands and knees slowly. Turning on his optics his vision was immediately filled with static and he shook his head desperately trying to clear it but it hardly helped. Looking around as best he could he could see rocks and debris, which he assumed had come with him scattered around what appeared to be a control room of some kind.

Pushing himself to his feet he kicked up some of the dust that had also followed him creating a small cloud at his feet. He finally managed to clear some of the static from his optics and stepped out of the strange elevator type contraption into the room itself.

'Oh man, that was some ride. I wonder if Prowl landed as hard as I did…..Prowl. PROWL?!

He glanced around frantically, looking for some sign of the ninjabot but not finding any.

His optics fell on the control panel that appeared to operate the elevator type machine he had awoken in and he staggered over to peer at it curiously. Reaching forward he cautiously tapped a few keys and was rewarded with images on the console's screen. His energon pump ran cold.

'No way!'

He was on Cybertron. Looking at the monitor he could clearly see the images of Cybertronian architecture and technology but something wasn't right. They were in ruins. Image after image displayed the twisted and collapsed structures of the once gleaming buildings and highways he new from his home planet. His spark twisted painfully at the sight and he was about to turn away when a new image came up of a very familiar blue and green planet.

'_Earth!'_

He was getting a very bad feeling about this.

Typing frantically he pulled up as much information as he could from the console. Everything from history to personal logs. He vaguely noted that the technology he was using was quite old compared to what was currently used on Cybertron. The Cybertron he new anyway and the more information he accessed the more his sense of dread began to sink in.

'Oh slag……' According to the last recorded history bit he could find the Decepticons had succeeded in driving Autobot forces underground and were now occupying Cybertron. The only thing was, in his own world's history that never happened.

'I must be in some sort of crazy alternate universe.' He wondered allowed.

He new the other Autobots would laugh and say he had an overactive imagination but somehow he felt that he was right this time.

Placing his hands on his hips Bumblebee smiled wistfully and turned to look at the debris littered room.

'Well….wadd'ya know.' He chuckled to himself.

The sound of moving rock caught his attention and he froze. There staring back at him as it slowly picked itself up was a large purple mech with a cannon in place of one hand and a single, glowing yellow optic.

It glared at him as it dragged itself up to stand against the far wall, pointing it's cannon arm at him.

'Who are you and how did you get in here?' it asked in a monotone voice.

Bumblebee gasped in shock.

He knew that voice. It was Shockwave.

Like lightning he dove for the exit, his stingers sliding out to send sparks of electricity at the stunned Decepticon before he could react. Shockwave fell hard against a console but managed to shoot back at the little yellow mech before he made his escape, catching the little bot on the back of the leg as he darted out of the room.

Shockwave had no idea where the little mech came from but he knew it had something to do with the space bridge malfunction. All he could remember before going offline was informing Thundercracker of his findings and then something coming through the space bridge akin to an Earth hurricane.

That little mech had looked vaguely familiar though and he did manage to register the red face on the mech's chassis. Autobot.

He had to warn Megatron.

Bumblebee bit back a cry of pain as he ran hard and fast through the ruins of Cybertron. His leg hurt horribly where Shockwave had shot at him but he couldn't afford to stop.

According to information he had found the 'Great War' was still raging. He shuddered as he thought back to all the horror stories Ratchet had told them about the war and he remembered feeling relieved that he hadn't been a part of it. He figured this must be some sort of cosmic payback! He had found no mention of the Elite Guard or any other Autobot organisation he knew of back home and that worried him.

Frowning he hid behind a nearby building and scanned the area.

The last few images he had found on the console showed the best of both Autobot and Decepticon forces landing on Earth where heavy combat was still taking place and Bumblebee wondered why.

'I don't get it. I found nothing about the Allspark so what are they fighting over?' he mused quietly. All he knew now was that getting to Earth was his best chance of getting home.

A signalling from his scanner caused him to smile in relief, the energy signature of a shuttle less than a mile away.

Looking down at his leg he sighed at the torn platting and twisted wiring poking out of the wound. Transforming was out of the question.

Taking off again, his processor drifted back to Prowl and this time he couldn't help the worry from taking hold.

_**To be continued………………**_

_Sorry if this rambled a bit. I found this chapter hard to write because I wasn't too sure if this was the best way to go but now that it's done I'm pretty sure this way's best. Next one's gonna be fun. ^^_

_Again I apologise for any spelling and grammatical errors but I can fix those later._


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers in any way._

_Woohoo! Next chapter! XD_

_I'm really glad people are liking this story._

_Big thank you to everyone for reading and reviews. ^^_

**CONSTANT PATH**

**Decepticon Base**

Thundercracker paced nervously in front of two large metal doors while he and Skywarp stood guard with orders to prevent any other Decepticons from entering until they were told otherwise. Skywarp was leaning back against the wall next to the doors with his arms folded and a bored expression on his faceplate. Both he and Thundercracker had been pretty much kicked out by Starscream as the air commander (as usual) went to take all the glory of returning with an Autobot prisoner for himself.

Skywarp didn't care though, mainly because it meant Starscream had to explain the presence of the 'other' Megatron as well. So the purple jet decided to just kick back and relax and wait to see what happened. Well he would have been but the frantic pacing of his wing-mate was slowly driving him crazy.

'TC! Would you relax already, let Screamer handle it.'

Pausing mid-step Thundercracker turned to stare at his comrade in astonishment.

'How can you be so calm about this?! How can there be TWO Megatron's and how in Primus name did I let Starscream talk me into bringing him back here?!'

By now rumour had spread throughout the base about the 'other' Megatron and most were keen to avoid the potentially hostile situation by staying as far away from their leader as possible for the time being.

Skywarp just shrugged and smirked at the blue seeker who quickly resumed his worried pacing, and leaned his head back against the wall, shuttering his optics.

This day was getting more interesting by the minute.

Behind the closed doors Megatron sat and regarded the mechs before him with an unreadable expression. Starscream had informed him about what had happened at the space bridge, and had this been any other time he would have raged at the seeker for failing at such a simple task. But instead he found himself transfixed by the dark presence of the mech his second in command had brought back with him.

He knew it was true. That this mech was indeed himself even though his processor demanded that it was illogical and premature to think such a thing.

So to satisfy logic he ordered Soundwave to scan the mech for injuries but communications officer caught the look in his leader's optics that told him that it was just an excuse for him to examine the strange mech more closely. So he complied.

The other Megatron stood rigid and glaring at the dark blue Decepticon with the battle mask and red visor while he scanned him under the pretence that he was simply checking for damage. Ha! What sort of idiot did they take him for? But since he knew he would be required to offer some kind of proof to his theory and that being scanned was the easiest, if slightly invasive, way of doing it so he allowed the blue mech to continue.

'Detected: Traces of unknown radiation.' Informed the expressionless Decepticon.

Starscream glanced at Soundwave curiously.

'Explain.'

Soundwave was silent for moment, continuing his scan of the dark mech before replying.

'Radiation is similar to that emitted by the space bridge but not identical. Suggestion: radiation may be the result of an outside influence on the space bridge power matrix.'

From his throne Megatron stared at the Comm. Officer, suddenly intrigued.

'What do you mean Soundwave? What kind of influence?'

The Comm. Officer finished his scan and turned to answer his leader.

'Theory: A source of immense power could overload space bridge safety protocols and cause targeting trajectory to extend beyond normal space.'

The other Megatron froze where he stood next to Soundwave.

The Allspark!

So it was the Allspark that had brought him here. The second Allspark fragment that had started the overload had caused the space bridge to send him beyond normal space, out of his own universe and into another. He shuddered inside. He somehow knew the moment had encountered the seekers that he had landed in an alternate reality, but still. Now that he knew for certain it suddenly seemed much more real.

Turning to Soundwave he asked the question that had plagued his processor since arriving at the Decepticon base.

'Is it possible to recreate the circumstances that caused the space bridge to malfunction, to reopen the vortex?'

Soundwave stared at him as if uncertain and glanced at his leader before carefully responding.

'Re-creation: Unlikely. No known energy source with the necessary power to produce a stable vortex in existence.'

Megatron clenched his fists in anger and resisted the sudden urge to lash out at the covered faceplate. No! He refused to accept that he was stuck here! There had to be some way of re-creating the vortex, the space bridge technology already existed so all he needed was a power source strong enough to cause an overload. He smiled inwardly. That shouldn't be too hard considering it had only taken two fragments of the Allspark to create one in his own world. Although, Soundwave's answer worried him greatly because it seemed that the Allspark was unheard of in this reality. Still, he only needed a fraction of the power of the complete Allspark, and on a planet like Earth where raw energy was abundant it should be possible to produce a similar amount of power.

Megatron calmed slightly at the thought.

Upon his throne, the Decepticon leader studied his counterpart with new interest and looking over at his second in command he found that Starscream was also staring at that darker mech intently.

A power source of that magnitude would win the war for the Decepticons both on Earth and Cybertron. Although judging by the mech's reaction to Soundwave's answer it seemed that this power source didn't exist in their world but that didn't concern him.

If by chance they could somehow recreate the vortex that brought the other mech here then he would simply send his Decepticons to retrieve the power source for their cause.

He had to admit that when Starscream first presented the mech to him that even he found the other's appearance to be a little………intimidating. Who knew that dark armour could give such an effect. He also discovered to his irritation that the mech was slightly taller than himself, which only seemed to add to his already menacing visage. Apart from appearance however he discovered that he and the other mech were very much alike. Powerful, strong willed and very sharp minded. He idly hoped that the last characteristic didn't interfere with his plans.

Fixing a pleasant smile on his faceplate Megatron addressed his look-alike.

'Rest assured that I will do everything within my power to return you to your own reality and in the mean time I would like you to consider yourself our guest here.' The Decepticon leader said smoothly and looking at his second in command, he gestured to the other Megatron with a casual wave of his hand.

'Starscream, make yourself useful and show our guest to some suitable quarters.'

The red seeker sputtered indignantly about being treated like a servant but a threatening look from his leader made him comply and he lead the other Megatron out of the room, if somewhat unhappily.

Megatron sighed as he thought of how to proceed with the situation. When Soundwave returned to his leader's side Megatron finally spoke though he didn't look up.

'What of the Autobot? Who is he?'

The comm. officer turned to gaze down at his leader before replying.

'Constructicons were ordered to take the Autobot to the holding cells. According to the…..'other' Megatron the Autobot's name is Prowl.'

Megatron looked up at him then in surprise.

Prowl?!

The last thing he needed was another Autobot tactician second guessing his plans. However, as he thought about it he couldn't help but wonder. Considering the differences between himself and the 'other' Megatron, he was curious to know whether it was the same with the 'other' Autobot second in command.

'Interesting. Depending on what he knows we may be able to use him against the Autobots in our own reality.' He smirked as he thought of how best to interrogate the Autobot.

'Caution Megatron: before Starscream returned I received communication from Cybertron. The space bridge malfunction occurred there as well and an unknown Autobot appeared.'

The Decepticon leader frowned and stared at Soundwave expectantly.

'And Shockwave?'

'Shockwave was unable to capture the Autobot and he is now loose on Cybertron.'

Megatron growled in annoyance.

So far, only the Decepticons knew of what happened with the space bridge and their unexpected visitors. But the appearance of this rogue Autobot could alert the Autobots in their own reality to what was going on and so take away any element of surprise.

But still…..

The Decepticon leader smiled and an evil glint lit in his optics. Rising from his throne he made his way out the door and down to the holding cells, Soundwave following close behind.

At least now he had a prisoner to play with and a potential bargaining chip should the little rogue get help from the Autobots on Earth.

**Cybertron**

Bumblebee had been running for what felt like ages when he finally reached his destination. Darting behind a pile of rubble when he was less than twenty metres away, the little bot took stock of his surroundings. To his surprise he actually recognised the area. Back on his own Cybertron the whole surrounding area was the Cybertronian Intergalactic Space Port. How ironic.

Peeking out from his hiding place he spotted the shuttle in the middle of the landing platform and examined it closely. He couldn't see any markings on the hull nor could he see anyone in the immediate area. Deciding to take a chance he made a break for it and ran towards the shuttle all the while sticking close to the shadows of the surrounding buildings.

'_Prowl would be proud.'_ He smiled at the thought.

He still had to find a place to hide. The shuttle looked similar enough to the ones on his own Cybertron that he was confident that it had the same basic design and, he was hoping, the same flaws.

Approaching the shuttle from the back he made sure to keep out of sight of the cockpit just in case there was someone inside. Upon reaching the shuttle he ducked underneath and crawled forward until he was just behind the rear landing gear. Reaching up he felt around the plating behind the left wheel and was relieved when the panel slid away to reveal a crawlspace that was only slightly smaller than himself where maintenance bots would crawl up into the fuselage to repair damaged components. Before enlisting Bumblebee had shared a building complex with one of the maintenance bots that worked on the shuttles at the Space Port and they would often share stories about their day. One that Bumblebee remembered in particular was about when the authorities had found an escaped prisoner trying to leave the planet by hiding in one of the maintenance crawlspaces just like the one he was now planning to stowaway in.

Lifting himself up into the small space Bumblebee carefully turned around and slid the panel back into place before settling down, trying to get comfortable while being mindful of his injured leg.

He knew he was taking a huge risk. He wasn't even sure if the shuttle was going to Earth but from what he had read on the monitor it seemed the most likely destination. He hoped.

Minutes went by as he lay completely still while listening for signs of movement outside and jerked slightly when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching the shuttle.

* * *

Outside Jazz turned to his fellow mechs as they reached the shuttle, each Autobot carrying a container loaded with supplies courtesy of the femmes, and activated the controls for the cargo hold door.

In exchange for badly needed energon the femmes had agreed to help with the Autobots supply problems so every now and then a small team of Autobots were sent on a supply run to their home planet. The Autobots themselves didn't mind the trips one bit for it was a chance for old friends to see one another and for the homesick to just go home again.

The current supply team consisted of Brawn, Mirage, Cliffjumper and Tracks with Jazz as team leader. Blaster was their designated pilot for the trip and had arrived to retrieve them an hour before their rendezvous as planned. The communications specialist waved at them as they boarded the shuttle after stowing the supplies and continued what he was doing, scanning through his music collection.

Door closed and everyone seated Jazz made his way up to the cockpit and leaned forward to rest on the back of the pilot's chair.

'So…..what's the plan?' he asked with an easy smile before taking his seat next to their pilot.

As Blaster fired up the engines he leaned forward and plugged a cable from his own speakers into the shuttles intercom before sitting back and grinning at Jazz.

'I was thinkin' maybe a little rock, a little pop and a whole lota heavy metal.' The comm. specialist replied lazily and gunned the engines as they cleared the planets' surface.

Leaning back in his seat Jazz placed his hands behind his head and listened as the sounds of rock music began to reach his audios from the ships' intercom. He heard a collective groan from the bots behind him and chuckled lightly.

'Cool man, cool.'

* * *

In the crawlspace Bumblebee listened in interest as he caught the faint sounds of music coming from above. It didn't drown out the sound of the shuttle's engines but he tuned into the soft vibrations and found himself drifting off into recharge before he realised what was happening.

Coming online with a jolt he discovered to his horror that he had been recharging for nearly six hours. All was quiet outside, but where was he? As quietly as he could Bumblebee shifted around so he could slide the access panel to one side and when he saw solid ground below he chanced a peek.

He was in a hanger with a large sliding door at one end for the shuttle and a loading bay to one side with a closed door next to it. Dropping down from the crawlspace he scanned the area from the relative safety of the shuttle.

No security cameras, but on closer inspection he noticed that the closed door had code operated security lock. That was no good. Even if he zapped the thing he was sure it would trigger an alarm somewhere.

Bumblebee sighed in frustration and started moving around the hanger, looking for a way out. After minutes of searching he was seriously considering just banging on the door when he caught sight of something behind a storage crate. Pushing the crate aside he found what he was looking for. A ventilation outlet.

'Score!'

Digging his fingers into the edges he prised off the cover and lent it next to the opening. It was a tight fit but more than enough room for him he thought with a grin.

'_Ha! Make fun of my size now!'_

Feeling thoroughly pleased with himself Bumblebee dropped down and started to crawl through the vent. Moving slowly so he didn't damage his injured leg further the yellow mech carefully made his way through the ventilation system.

Wherever he was the only thing he could think was that the place must be huge!

He crawled for good hour and more than once he was forced to stop when he heard the sound of approaching voices and footsteps. To his annoyance he discovered that all the outlets were at floor level giving him a limited view of the outside. He still had no idea where he was or whether the mechs outside were friendly or not.

Bumblebee stiffened as another wave of pain shot up through his leg and was startled when a warning message suddenly appeared in his field of vision. He was running low on energy. Damn it! Decepticons or not he needed help and for a moment he forgot about keeping quiet as he began moving faster through the vent coming to a stop next to another outlet and peering nervously through the grate.

This room was large. Larger than most of the others he had seen and was full of examination tables and work benches with strange equipment. His optics widened in terror and his overactive imagination supplied him with images of a Decepticon torture chamber even though he had never actually seen one, while Ratchet's story about his encounter with Lockdown replayed in his CPU.

'_Oh yeah, this was really helping!'_ he berated himself furiously.

Unwilling to stay there a nanosecond longer Bumblebee was about to move on when suddenly he detected movement from within the room. Looking back through the grate he smiled and felt all his worries disappear in an instant.

It was a human. That meant he was on Earth!

Even at floor level the little human was easy to see and Bumblebee found himself leaning on the grate with both hands to try and get a better look.

The human was male, with brown hair and looked to be in his mid to late forties. He was dressed in casual work clothes and held a toolbox in one hand. He appeared to be talking to someone but before Bumblebee could wonder who and pair of white feet suddenly stepped up beside the man.

Bumblebee turned his audio to the grate and tried to pick up their conversation, never noticing the grate slowly loosening beneath his hands until……..

**(CRASH!!)**

Landing heavily on his front he was momentarily stunned by white hot pain emanating from his leg and shuttered his optics to try and ride out the agony.

After a few moments the pain receded to a dull ache and dared to uncover his optics.

He froze in shock.

The human stood less than ten metres away but what made him freeze was the tall, boxy red and white mech standing next to him. Both appeared as shocked as he was and for a moment no-one moved.

The human recovered first and turned to look up at the mech standing next to him.

'One of yours?' he asked quietly, pointing at Bumblebee where he lay prone on the floor.

The white mech didn't respond except to shake his head once. No.

Optics never leaving the mech on the floor Ratchet immediately noticed the damage to his lower left leg, which was sparking furiously but forced himself to remain still. The little bot was obviously in pain but going by the look of increasing panic in the wide blue optics, any movement from him was sure to make the other mech bolt.

Realising that Ratchet going to stay where he was Sparkplug decided to make the first move. Moving slowly, Sparkplug lowered his toolbox to the floor before approaching the little yellow mech who had yet to move so much as an inch from where he had landed on the floor. Though remaining where he was the little bot began to shake slightly as the human approached and when the bright blue optics widened in fright Sparkplug stopped and held his hands out so as to appear non-threatening. But Sparkplug was frowning inwardly. He may not be a giant alien robot but even he could see the plain fear on the little bot's face and it both confused and worried him. Glancing back at Ratchet he realised that the medic could see it too judging by his uncharacteristic reluctance to go to the injured mech.

Bumblebee's processor was racing a mile a minute as he watched the human stop a few feet away from him. Deep within his CPU a logical voice was desperately trying to get his attention but he was too panicked by the white mech in front of him to notice and when he accidentally let slip a pain filled cry, said white mech suddenly move toward him and all logic abruptly went out the window as the spell that held him was suddenly lifted.

Jumping to his feet he darted to the side, around the approaching medic, heading straight for the repair bay door. Ratchet made a frantic grab for the little mech as he ran by but missed him by millimetres and turned just in time to watch the yellow minibot disappear out the door.

Wasting no time Ratchet activated his internal comm. link.

'_Ratchet to Optimus Prime.'_

He didn't have to wait long.

'_Go ahead Ratchet.'_

'_Prime we have an intruder loose somewhere on the base. I tried to catch him in the repair bay but he slipped past me.'_

A short pause.

'_Is he a spy?'_

'_I don't know, the little guy spooked before I even got near him but he appears to be injured.'_

There was a long pause as the Autobot leader thought of the next plan of action.

_'Alright, see if you can catch him without injuring him and I'll send some others to help you. I'll tell Prowl to lockdown the Ark until he's apprehended……'_

The Autobot leader trailed off and Ratchet smirked when he heard the older Autobot sigh in resignation.

_'……… Red Alert is going to have a fit when he hears about this.'_

**To be continued………………………**

_Well, there it is. Good grief! This chapter was really fiddly to write. I'm ashamed to say that it was also a bit rushed so I hope it reads ok._

_Let me know what you think._

_Next chapter coming soon._


	4. Chapter 4

_Disclaimer: I do not own the Transformers in any way_

_Sorry it's taken me so long. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible._

_Thanks to everyone for their reviews. XD_

_Chapter 4!_

**CONSTANT PATH**

**Decepticon Base**

Prowl came back online slowly. His processor throbbed painfully and he on-lined his optics only to clamp them shut as his vision was assaulted by harsh artificial light, triggering a full-blown processor ache.

He groaned quietly and waited for the pain in his head to die down before attempting to open his optics again. When he finally did he immediately found the source of the harsh light and quickly sat up. He was in a cell and the bright purple light was coming from the energy bars keeping him inside. Testing his movement he discovered that his hands were now cuffed behind his back but his legs were free and he tried to stand by leaning against the cell wall for support. He was a bit unsteady after being on the floor for so long but he finally managed to push himself up to his feet and took the opportunity to check his body for injuries.

Hmm. A few scuffs and scrapes. No serious damage.

Yet.

Searching his memory banks he tried to recall what had happened. He remembered being in the Decepticon base with the others when the space bridge had overloaded. Megatron catching him with Prime's grappler, dragging him closer to the vortex and Bumblebee's hands suddenly appearing in his own, trying to pull him away.

He frowned as he tried to remember what happened next and almost fell back down in shock when he did.

Megatron disappearing into the vortex, pulling him in too, all the while Bumblebee's wheels were spinning as he tried to pull him free. He remembered seeing a great shadow fall over them and had looked up then to see Omega Supreme in robot mode descending towards him, and then………nothing.

The frown remained on his faceplate as he tried desperately to assess his situation.

What the frag had happened after that and where was Bumblebee?

Prowl's optics widened.

_Bumblebee!_

Moving quickly to the front of the cell he pressed his faceplate as close to the bars as he dared and peered outside. Cells like the one he occupied lined the wall opposite and extended beyond his view in both directions. He realised that he was being held in some kind of brig……or dungeon. Steeling himself he called out Bumblebee's name and waited patiently for a reply. None came. He tried calling out a few more times but came to realise that either Bumblebee was unconscious, or he was all alone in the cells.

'_Maybe he let go like I told him to.'_ Prowl wondered but quickly rejected the idea. Since when had Bumblebee done as he was told, and since when did he ever listen Prowl anyway!

Sitting back down at the back of the cell Prowl tried to focus on getting out of the cuffs, just like he had done in the Decepticon base. Calming his thoughts he centred his concentration on the cuffs at his wrists and focused. He could feel the vibration start beneath his armour and he realised he was humming like he had done before but the cuffs remained unyielding. Rearranging himself into a slightly more comfortable position on the floor he tried again to remove his bonds but again nothing happened beyond the vibration and the humming.

He gave up with a frustrated growl.

Maybe the cuffs were different to ones they had been using or maybe it was simply because his hands were behind his back. Before he could speculate further, the door at the end of the room suddenly opened, the sound echoing down through the cells and Prowl pushed himself to stand again to face whoever it was that had come to visit.

The sound of heavy footsteps echoed loudly down the hallway and a shadow slowly gave way to a large grey mech with an even taller dark blue mech with a visor and battle mask standing behind him.

Prowl's optics widened in shock.

'_Megatron?!'_

A slightly paler grey and the shoulder launchers were absent but this mech was undoubtedly the Decepticon leader.

Staring through the bars at the mech inside Megatron couldn't believe his optics.

This was Prowl?!

Examining the mech closely Megatron was amazed at how different this Autobot was to his counterpart in their reality. Considering how similar his own counterpart was to himself the only thing that seemed to stand out on this mech that he could see was the chevron on the mechs' helm.

Very slim for a mech and slightly shorter than his counterpart, black and gold paint job, no door wings but instead what looked like thrusters on the mech's back and a visor no less. He never would have thought of Prowl wearing a visor, not the one in his own reality anyway. The Autobot second in command always seemed the kind to look his enemy in optic, being in control of his emotions rather than hide them behind a visor.

It made Megatron curious as to what the darker mech was like in personality so he deactivated the energy bars and stepped inside the cell.

The shorter mech immediately tensed and leaned back against the wall of the cell, placing one foot against it for leverage should he have to move quickly as he regarded the Decepticon with cool optics.

Soundwave stayed outside the cell as Megatron took another step towards the dark armoured Autobot while his optics scanned the mech before him curiously. The Autobot had one shoulder pressed to the back of the cell with his opposite foot planted firm against the wall behind him. Megatron was intrigued. The stance the Autobot currently held was like that of a warrior ready to strike, nothing like the kind of reaction he would expect from the Autobot second-in-command were he in the same situation. No, the Prowl of his reality would be infuriatingly calm, almost relaxed while waiting for an opportunity to escape to present itself all the while running everything past those infernal logic circuits of his.

He took another step closer to the Autobot bringing him into the Autobot's striking range but to his surprise the slim mech made no move to attack him. In fact Prowl didn't move at all but continued to gaze coldly at the Decepticon leader.

Curious. Megatron reached out as if to touch the Autobot's face and the reaction was instantaneous. The hand was slapped away and the foot that was once braced against the wall was planted harshly into the Decepticon's chestplate with enough force to push the significantly larger mech backwards to the cell door where he stumbled but was caught by Soundwave who had come to his leader's aid.

Pushing away from Soundwave and brushing himself off Megatron growled furiously. How dare the Autobot push him so easily. Raising his fusion cannon he aimed it at the Autobot but stopped short of firing when caught sight of the bot inside the cell. Upon seeing the weapon aimed at him Prowl had swiftly dropped to the floor in a low crouch with his hands placed on the floor in front of him, enabling him to move quickly in any direction to get out of the line of fire.

Megatron couldn't help but stare at the Autobot where crouched against the floor while regarding the Decepticon leader with same cool, calculating gaze.

What an odd stance. It didn't look like anything he had witnessed before among Autobot or Decepticon warriors on the battlefield but then why did it look so familiar.

Movement behind him alerted him to Soundwave moving back outside the cell and then it hit him.

Ravage.

This was the stance of a predator. Interesting.

Megatron laughed causing the Autobot to stare at him suspiciously and curl into an even tighter stance.

Very interesting.

**The Ark**

The entire Ark was in lockdown. This meant that all access to the outside was cut off, all none essential areas were sealed and (much to Bumblebee's annoyance) all ventilation shafts were closed off by thick metal bars.

Still he kept moving through the unfamiliar corridors as quickly and as quietly as his injured leg would allow.

He was still on edge from his brush with the white mech from earlier and kept looking over his shoulder in nervous habit but finding no one there, which was starting to worry him though.

'_Where the frag is everybody?!'_ he thought franticly and sure enough he turned into another corridor that was completely empty.

While crawling through the ventilation system he had passed dozens of mechs, all unique and many too big to miss so how could they possibly have all suddenly disappeared?

Bumblebee stopped and leaned heavily against the wall when another wave of pain erupted from his injured leg and he couldn't stop the hiss of pain that left him.

None this made sense to him.

He was sure he was on Earth. After all, he had seen the human earlier with his own optics but he didn't recognise the red and white mech standing next to him even though something in his core programming was screaming that he should. Fortunately or unfortunately Bumblebee was very much in favour of doing the first thing that popped into his processor which was run and worry about it later.

So he did but now came the worry. Who exactly was he running from?

Now that he thought about it, he berated himself for not sticking around long enough to scan the white mech for an insignia. More warning messages had started to appear and his energy levels were reaching critical. He knew it wouldn't be long before he went into stasis lock but he just had to find a way outside so he could determine if he was on Earth or not. But no matter what corridor he took he just kept ended up at a sealed door.

* * *

'Are you sure he came this way Hound?' asked an irritated Sideswipe as they turned a corner.

After locking down the Ark and hearing Ratchet's report, Prowl immediately put a team together to track down and apprehend the intruder. The search team consisted of Hound (to track him), Jazz (to lead the team and try talking to the little mech), Perceptor (to administer a sedative if necessary) and the twins (to restrain the mech if required).

It had been nearly two hours since the lockdown was initiated and so far they had yet to find any trace of the little yellow mech.

'I'm pretty sure he would have come this way after leaving the repair bay. Ratchet said the little guy turned left out the door so, providing he hasn't ducked into one of the storage lockers then this is the only way he could have come after Prowl initiated the lockdown.' the Jeep replied and as they turned another corner he stopped them and pointed to a spot on the wall near the floor.

'Look!'

A small electrical burn mark and a faint smear of energon decorated the wall as though someone had leant there to rest. Crouching down Hound reached out and touched the energon stain, his fingertips came away pink.

Frowning, he turned to Jazz.

'It's still wet, he can't be too far ahead of us.'

Jazz nodded in understanding, the intruder could be around the next corner.

'Ah'right guys you know what to do. Th' twins stay outta sight until we know what we're dealing while Hound and Perceptor back me up.'

All nodding in agreement with the exception of Sunstreaker who grumbled about why they couldn't just shoot the little fragger and that he was probably a spy anyway.

As they approached the end of the corridor they heard a faint clatter of metal against metal accompanied by a soft hiss of pain and stopped suddenly. Telling the others to stay put Jazz crept to the end of the hallway and peered around the corner carefully.

The little mech was slouched heavily against the wall, almost all his weight supported by the solid structure. He looked exhausted. The wound on his leg was no longer sparking but was slowly oozing energon and looked incredibly painful.

Turning back to the rest of the team Jazz signalled that he had found their target and the twins took their standby position, crouched down against the wall opposite but still remaining out of sight of the little mech while Hound and Perceptor came to stand behind Jazz.

Turning back to look at the little yellow bot Jazz fixed a calming smile onto his faceplate and quietly stepped out of the shadows.

* * *

Bumblebee could feel his optics flickering against his will. He was so tired. The numerous warning messages that filled his vision told him that stasis lock was imminent and all he wanted to do was slide down the wall he was leaning against and into recharge as his body tried to conserve energy.

No!

He had to get outside he had to find help, and Prowl. The ninjabot was still out there somewhere. What if the Dececpticons had him?

Steeling himself against the pain he knew would come Bumblebee pushed himself away from the wall with shaking servos. Staggering under his own weight the yellow scout barely took step when he suddenly noticed the sound of quiet footsteps behind him and froze. Glancing slowly over his shoulder Bumblebee jumped, letting out a startled yell at seeing a big black and white mech with a blue visor standing less than ten feet behind him.

Jazz stopped when the little mech finally noticed his presence. He had been walking slowly towards him for a good few minutes and although he was being quiet his footsteps certainly weren't silent. _'The little guy must be in even worse shape if he's only just noticed me.'_ Jazz frowned with worry. Spy or not the little bot needed help and soon and it was something Jazz could use against the bot to get him to come quietly.

Jazz was well aware that it was a low blow but if it avoided an unnecessary fight then so be it. Still Jazz kicked himself mentally for using an injured bot's weakness against him.

The other mech had turned to face him finally and the frightened yelp at seeing him almost made Jazz rethink his strategy. Almost.

Keeping up the calming smile he held up his hands slightly to show that he was unarmed.

'Hi there. You've given us quite th' run around but how about we go and get that leg seen to before ya shut down?' the black and white kept his voice smooth and cheerful while he took a small step closer to the frightened mech.

* * *

Staring at the strange mech with frightened optics Bumblebee's logic processes once again insisted that he should know this mech and when the black and white spoke with a soft yet almost musical voice Bumblebee was sure he should too but in his energy deprived state, his sluggish processor still failed to provide him with a name. So, once again he did the first thing that popped into his processor and staggered back a few steps, almost falling over backwards in his hasty retreat.

Seeing the little mech scurrying back ready to run, Jazz acted quickly to prevent his escape. Closing the distance between him and the smaller mech in a few short strides he reached out grabbed the little bot by the wrists, wincing slightly when the other mech shrieked in panic, not being able to follow Jazz's quick movements in his weakened state.

'Whoa! Hey now, take it easy. I ain't gonna hurt ya.'

But he was ignored as the little bot pulled franticly at his captured wrists and kicked out in a desperate attempt to escape the much larger mech.

Hearing the struggle the rest of the search team rounded the corner and advanced on the two struggling transformers. By this time Jazz had spun the smaller mech around with a tug on the wrists and had his arms securely wrapped around the struggling bots' upper body while still maintaining a firm grip on his wrists.

From the corner of his optics Bumblebee could see one of the approaching mechs, a red one with a giant lens cannon on one shoulder, pull something out from behind his back and renewed his thrashing in the black and white's arms when he recognised what it was. A needle.

Jazz tightened his grip when Perceptor approached with the needle while Sideswipe and Sunstreaker ran to assist the Operations Officer by immobilising the struggling mechs' legs allowing the scientist to gently force the little bots' head to the side with one hand and insert the needle into his neck with the other. Sedative successfully administered Perceptor withdrew and backed away to a safe distance.

Bumblebee gasped in pain when the needle slid into a fuel line in his neck but he was helpless to stop it while the three larger mechs held him still. As he watched the red mech who had injected him move away he could already feel the effects of the chemical in his systems as the warning messages suddenly began to disappear one by one indicating that each of his systems was being forcibly shut down. His servos felt heavy and his struggles slowed until finally his body went limp in his captors' arms. He was vaguely aware of being lowered to the floor and talking above him before static filled his audios and his optics went dark.

'Phew! Slippery little fragger ain't he.' Sideswipe grinned down at the now offline intruder but the grin turned into a frown when he took a closer look at the little mech.

'Hey, is it just me or does this little guy look a lot like Bumblebee?'

Crouching next to the motionless figure Jazz quickly scanned the mech and discovered the concealed weapons in the bots' arms as well as taking note of the slightly scuffed Autobot symbol on the yellow chest that had remained unnoticed until just now. Their Bumblebee didn't have any concealed weapons but Sideswipe had a point. This intruder looked eerily similar to the yellow minibot but Jazz wanted to get him back to Ratchet as soon as possible. The vicious looking wound on the bots' leg had worsened during the struggle and was still seeping energon.

'I suggest we get him back to Ratchet first so he can be repaired before we begin speculating on where he came from.' Perceptor suggested and after a quick examination to make sure the sedative was working he radioed said CMO to let him know that they were on their way with a patient while Jazz informed Prime and Prowl of their success.

The sound of bolts retracting and doors opening signalled the end of the lockdown and the search team made their way back to the repair bay with the unconscious intruder in Hound's arms.

_**To be continued………………………….**_

_I apologise again for taking so long and I promise to try to get the next chapter up soon._

_Sorry for any spelling or grammatical errors._


	5. Chapter 5

_

* * *

_

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers in any way.

_So much for posting sooner. . _

_I'm sorry everyone although I can't promise they will be as regular as I'd like I can promise that I will keep posting until this story is finished. Please be patient with me and I thank you all for reading the story so far._

_Thank you very much for the reviews. 3_

_Chapter 5!_

**CONSTANT PATH**

**Decepticon Base**

For the second time in the same day Prowl groaned quietly as he came back online, remembering the energy bars this time and allowing his optics to adjust before powering them up completely the cyberninja carefully sat up and instantly wished he hadn't. Sitting with his back against the cell wall Prowl surveyed the damage done and cringed at the sight of the mangled armour plates on his lower torso and the sides of his thighs. With his now freed hands he ran a careful hand down and round to his lower back he couldn't hold back a hiss when his fingers brushed over the jagged edges of more torn plating.

The last twelve hours had been nothing short of a nightmare for the ninjabot that had started with his earlier encounter with Megatron and the big dark blue mech with the visor who he had later discovered to be Soundwave the Decepticon communications officer. How ironic.

* * *

**_FLASHBACK_**

The way the Decepticon leader stared at him after having the mech's fusion cannon pointed at him had unnerved him greatly. The red optics had stared at him with curious intensity that had he been a wolf or similar Earth predator would have caused his hackles to rise and his teeth to be bared in a snarl. To the ninjabot's relief Megatron had only frowned at him before turning to leave, issuing orders to Soundwave as he stepped out of the cell. He spared one last curious glance for the Autobot who had yet to move from his tense position before turning on his heel and walking back down the hall.

After his leaders' retreat Soundwave stood silently in front of the cell staring impassively at the Autobot within and baring his escape. Prowl slowly rose from his crouched position to stand once more and stared at the large blue mech, calculating his chances. Even if he did get past the Decepticon he had no idea where he was or what exactly lay beyond the door to his prison not to mention how many more Decepticons he would face should he try to escape now. No. He needed more information. He was missing something he could feel it.

He realised what the larger mech was up to when the door at the end of the hall opened once again and two Decepticon jets, one blue, one purple and black, came into view.

'_Internal comms.'_ Prowl surmised and took a defensive stance when the larger Decepticon stepped aside to allow the two jets to enter.

Prowl glared at the jets. If he didn't know better he would assume they were more of Starscream's clones but as he watched the two approach he had a feeling that wasn't true. Contemplating his options Prowl slowly lowered his guard and allowed the Decepticons to take hold of his arms. He may be fast but compared to the jets he knew he may as well be standing still.

'Skywarp. Thundercracker. Take the Autobot to the repair bay for analysis.' The dark blue mech ordered and Prowl was roughly dragged from his cell and down the hall.

'Yeah, yeah Soundwave. Don't get your circuits in a bunch, we're going!' the purple and black jet tossed over his shoulder as he and Thundercracker forced the Autobot prisoner through the door.

As he was herded into some sort of large control room before being dragged down another corridor Prowl took the opportunity to look around and try to memorize the layout of where he was being held. The base appeared to be quite large with a number of different sections all surrounding a main tower with some sort mechanism at the centre. As they passed by a window Prowl discovered something else that caused him to worry. The whole base was apparently under water and although the water itself didn't pose any danger it would certainly slow him down any escape attempt if he couldn't reach land quickly.

Finally he was pulled through another door into what he could only assume was the base's medical facility. A row of examination tables occupied the middle of the room and there were piles of equipment in every corner. At the far end of the room two mechs stood by one the exam tables, waiting patiently as he was dragged over to them.

'Ah, it's about time you showed up. Get lost did you?' sneered a red jet with a grey faceplate and Prowl instantly recognised the Decepticon second in command.

'Shove it Screamer! We got here as fast as we could, this fragger's heavier than he looks.' Spat the purple and black jet and Prowl found himself being shoved face down onto the table while his cuffs were removed before being roughly turned over forced up onto the table on his back. The other mech, a green and purple Decepticon came forward and began to fasten the Autobot to the table with a number of metal, cable woven straps before Prowl could protest. As the straps tightened against his frame Prowl knew he wouldn't be able to break them even if he were at full power.

As it was he hadn't been allowed to refuel since coming back online and even though he was already running on the bare minimum to try and conserve energy, warning messages were already starting to appear.

Once he was fully restrained the green and purple Decepticon stepped back and Starscream examined him with a critical optic, initiating a thorough scan of his frame. Prowl did his best not to flinch under the invasive scan while the scientist started pocking and prodding at his armour.

Starscream on the other hand could barely contain his excitement as he studied the Autobot on the table. After meeting the Autobot and witnessing his behaviour in the cell Megatron had ordered the Decepticon scientist to find out all he could about the mech. So naturally Starscream's first idea was to question the 'other' Megatron about the bot's abilities.

What a waste of time that had been!

Either this alternate Megatron simply enjoyed watching him squirm, no matter which reality he was in or he paid absolutely no attention to potential threats right under his nose. Starscream favoured the latter as it seemed that the alternate Megatron saw the mech as nothing more than some sort of second rate repair bot rather than an Autobot soldier.

'_If this is the attitude of the Decepticon leader in this other reality then it's little wonder_ _we lost!'_ the seeker thought sarcastically, having heard tales of the war in the alternate reality from their 'guest'. Looking up at the monitor Starscream frowned in confusion when it began to display images of something hidden beneath the black and gold armour.

What the frag are those?!

Scrutinizing the monitor closely it appeared that the Autobot had some kind weaponry built within his armour. With a gentleness belying his intentions Starscream placed his hands on the Autobot's abdomen, feeling the mech twitch only slightly and started to carefully feel the joints and seams that indicated where the plating was either removable or retractable.

'Tell me Autobot, is it true that your name is Prowl?' the scientist asked absently as he examined the prone bot's armour.

Prowl had been trying to ignore the Decepticon's questing fingers and startled at the sudden question.

'Yes, that is my name.' He replied carefully.

Starscream hummed in response.

'Do you know where you are?'

Prowl was starting to feel a sense of dread at the smug jet's questioning but he answered anyway.

'I would assume I am being held within a Decepticon base somewhere.'

The scientist laughed lightly and began applying gentle pressure to one of the seams in his abdomen causing the Autobot to tense beneath his hands.

'What if I told you that your little space bridge overload threw you into another reality?'

Prowl's optics widened under his visor. Was the red jet serious?! Considering who he was talking to Prowl doubted the scientist's words and told him so.

'As unlikely as it seems I can assure you that it is true. Something to do with an _Allspark_ fragment that caused the control matrix to overload, or something like that….'

Starscream trailed of absently, feigning disinterest, but he had intentionally stressed the word Allspark and was watching Prowl's reaction closely from the corner of his optic.

A thousand and one thoughts were careening across his processor as he tried desperately to make sense of what was going on.

'Another reality?'

The absurdity of the idea just floored him.

Now Prowl had never actually considered himself a slave to logic but this seemed just a little too 'out there' for him to believe. But the more he thought about and replayed everything that had happened, that he could remember up until now, the more doubts he unearthed every time he looked at the situation.

The Megatron that came to visit him in his cell certainly wasn't the Megatron who had dragged him into the space bridge. Now that he thought about it the Starscream that was examining him was definitely the real one even thought the colours were wrong, and he seemed more attentive to his task, more calculating. Dare he say it……….more intelligent.

The unknown Decepticon base, the Starscream clones that weren't Starscream clones as well as other unknown Decepticons, and the space bridge. Having spent so many cycles repairing the things Prowl was pretty sure they needed to be located in a wide open area in order to operate and certainly couldn't do so under water so there was another question. If he arrived by space bridge then where was the thing and could the Allspark really have sent to another reality?

Prowl was so distracted by his internal speculation that he didn't notice Starscream reaching for something beyond his view and was abruptly pulled from his thoughts by searing pain across his abdomen. Looking down he saw the scientist cutting into his armour with a laser scalpel along the seam he had found moments earlier sending waves of white hot pain across his sensory network. Shuttering his optics against the pain he strained against the straps holding him to the berth but refused to give the scarlet jet the satisfaction of crying out. Minutes seemed to stretch on forever as Starscream cut into his body and the number of warning messages in his view doubled as the strain on his systems intensified.

Finally the cutting stopped and Prowl collapsed back against the berth, exhausted. Air intakes heaved in effort to cool his overtaxed systems and Prowl realised with an uncharacteristic twinge of panic that, with the last of his remaining power being unexpectedly diverted to his self-repair, stasis-lock was approaching a lot faster than he had anticipated.

Prowl's moment of respite was short lived however as Starscream, after abandoning the laser-scalpel, dug his fingers into the narrow incisions he had just made and began to tear back the plating of Prowl's abdomen with his bare hands. Raw agony exploded in Prowl's processor causing his optics to actually go offline momentarily as shock ran through his systems. Looking down at the Decepticon scientist with barely contained horror Prowl watched as he ripped the plating aside before slipping a hand into the compartment underneath, searching for something. The black and gold mech flinched visibly as the hand withdrew but opened his optics to see Starscream examining one of his throwing stars in the hand that had just left his body.

That was what the scientist was after? His weapons?

Prowl shuddered. Starscream's earlier scan must have revealed the weapons he kept hidden beneath his armour.

He quietly hoped that the jet didn't attempt to remove the rest of his weapons the same way.

_**END OF FLASHBACK**_

* * *

His hopes had been ignored and he had gone into stasis lock not long after Starscream started on his leg armour, his body no longer able to keep both him and his self-repair online.

Sighing heavily Prowl carefully tried to make himself comfortable against the back of the cell.

The fact that he was online at all meant the Decepticons had repaired him enough to bring him out of stasis-lock and refuelled him enough to stop it from happening again, in the immediate future at least.

But what to do now?

His internal chronometer told him that, since he first came back online in his cell, he had been captive for approximately 12 hours and there was no way of knowing how many hours he was offline before that.

One thing was for sure, if he was going to be subjected to further examination like his torture with Starscream then there was no way in any universe he was going to stick around and wait for it to happen.

With grim determination Prowl forced himself upright until he sat cross-legged on the floor of his cell. Resting his hands limply in his lap he fought to clear his thoughts of recent events until there was nothing there but calm stillness. With a renewed sense of peace Prowl found his focus and set about solving the problem he had in mind.

He had met his captors, he had seen where he was being held.

So now it was time to think of a way out.

**The Ark**

'_Who is……'_

'_I've never seen……'_

'…_need to contact…'_

'…_looks like…'_

'……_is that……'_

'…_can't be…'_

He could hear voices.

He strained to pick up what they were saying but everything sounded as if were far away or underwater water. He was faintly aware of movement around him but found himself unable to move except to turn his head slightly to one side. The small movement must have caught someone's attention because a moment later he felt a surprisingly gentle hand on the top of his helm. The soothing touch of the cool metal was slowly pulling him back towards oblivion and he was sure someone was talking to him but he was just too tired to make out what they were saying. The feeling of movement eventually faded into the background and he was once again drifting.

Now if he could only remember why his head hurt so much.

'Bumblebee?'

Bumblebee came back online with such a jerk that he had to wait several minutes for the all of his systems to catch up. When he opened his optics to look around they widened in shock when everything that happened suddenly came rushing back.

He was in the same room he had crashed-rolled into earlier. The one where he had seen the human and the big red and white mech that had him running out the door before his processor could so much as sputter. Only this time he was on one of the examination tables. He tried to sit up to get a better look at his surroundings but to his horror he found that he couldn't move. It was then that he noticed the thick metal straps stretched across his chest, abdomen, wrists and knees keeping him on the berth. He tugged at them experimentally but they wouldn't budge. He was well and truly caught this time and he didn't even know who by.

Slumping back down in defeat Bumblebee couldn't hold back the sob of despair as it escaped.

'_Come on! You can't give up, now what would Prowl in a situation like this?'_ he thought furiously.

'_Hmm. Hum his way out?'_ his processor replied sarcastically.

'_How can you joke at a time like this?!'_ he mentally shouted back and swore he heard something that sounded suspiciously like a snigger at the back of his CPU.

'_Great! I'm arguing with myself.'_

'_You started it.'_

_'Will you shut up already!'_

The sound of a door opening startled Bumblebee out of the internal argument and turned his he the door he had escaped through before but there was no one there.

'Well, it's about time you woke up. I was starting to think Percy had given you too much.' The rough but soft voice echoed faintly round the room.

Bumblebee jumped as much as his bonds would allow at the sound of a voice in the room and he twisted round to see the same red and white from before emerging from another room apparently connected to the repair bay itself. An office maybe. Either way, Bumblebee kicked himself for not noticing it earlier.

The red and white frowned when he received no response from the bot on the table and put down the data pad he had been reading to come and take a closer look.

The reappearance of the red and white was enough to send Bumblebee back into panic mode but with metal straps holding him in place there was little he could do about it. That didn't stop him from shaking slightly when other mech began to walk over, a confused frown on his faceplate.

'Still not talking huh? Well I checked you over while you out and there's nothing wrong with your vocal processor…..' the mech trailed off as he began to examine readings on a nearby monitor.

Bumblebee was confused. Although the mech's tone was gruff there was a note of genuine worry there also. The red and white turned back him, the mech's optic ridges were creased with worry and even though he was still trembling slightly Bumblebee couldn't keep his confusion from showing and shut his optics while a loud hiss of air came from his vents as he sighed.

'Hey kid, you alright?'

* * *

_**FLASHBACK**_

'Of all the techno-brained idiocy I've seen that has got to be by far the worse. WHAT were you thinking? You could have gotten slagged out there today. By the Allspark you could have gotten Sari slagged!' the medic raged while he finished patching up the yellow bot on his repair table.

Another close call with the Dececpticons had almost resulted in fatalities, namely Bumblebee's and Sari's as they tried to take on Starscream alone. Prime was furious, Prowl was disappointed and Bulkhead wasn't talking to him.

Bumblebee slouched where he sat on the med-bay table, crestfallen. He and Sari just wanted to try out some of the new moves Prowl was teaching them. Admittedly they could have picked a better target, like one they actually stood half a chance against but Sari had insisted that between them could handle it. Thankfully Prime and the others had arrived before either of them were killed by the jet but both would be nursing a few cuts and scrapes for a while, him in particular. Prime had read them the riot act and after Sari went home he pulled Bumblebee aside to have a nice long chat about behaving responsibly around impressionable 8 year-old girls.

Anyway here he was being repaired and getting an audio bashing by the only mech who hadn't had his chance yet.

He already felt miserable about the whole thing, he didn't need Ratchet to make him feel any worse and pulled his knees up to his chestplate and buried his face in his arms, which he had folded on top of his drawn up knees. Ratchet glared at the little bot where he sat curled up on the repair table and so preventing him from completing his repairs but Bumblebee didn't move.

'Come on! The sooner I get this done the sooner you can go.' The medic snapped but his sour mood evaporated when he heard a sob come from the bot on the table.

Shaking shoulder struts confirmed his suspicions as Bumblebee cried softly, hiding his face in his arms. Angry mood now completely gone Ratchet sighed heavily and turned around to sit on the each of the table.

'Alright, so maybe you get it now. But you gotta promise me something?'

Bright optics glowed softly as they peered up from the tear stained faceplate.

'What?'

'That you'll never try something that stupid again without telling anybody. At least give us the chance to talk you out of it first.' The old medic smiled at him and Bumblebee felt his heart lighten considerably.

Ratchet may be a grumpy old medibot but he cared about all of them and Bumblebee knew that this promise was Ratchet's own version of the 'team work' talk.

'Sure, I promise.' He smiled in return and unfolded slightly to examine a particularly nasty gash on the back of one hand. The edges of the wound were black where energy of Starscream's null-ray had touched it. It had been so close he could have lost his hand completely but thankfully it had only grazed it. Still, if Sari had been the one hit instead of him…..

Bumblebee shut his optics in a desperate attempt to avoid thinking about and had completely forgotten Ratchet was there until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder and he looked up, startled.

'Hey kid, you alright?'

**_END OF FLASHBACK _**

* * *

Opening his optics he stared at the red and white in shock.

What just happened?

That tone. The gruff yet caring quality of the voice reminded him of Ratchet.

His processor had made the connection when the medic had asked him if he was all right. The same way the Ratchet in his own reality had asked him when he had almost gotten slagged by Starscream. Bumblebee was stunned. It had never occurred to him that his comrades could exist in this reality too.

What if HE existed in this reality?

What if he did and he met himself?! Wasn't that like a paradox or something?

Looking at the mech more closely Bumblebee could actually see the resemblance, although not uncanny, between this medic and the Ratchet of his own reality. Same primary colours, although most medibots opted for the traditional red and white, similar chevron and by the mech's increasing look of agitation the same short temper.

'Well? I haven't got all day!' griped the medic and Bumblebee smiled knowingly.

'Ratchet.' He stated confidently and said mech almost jumped in surprise.

Ratchet stared at the yellow mech in stunned surprise, he hadn't told him his name. Immediately suspicious Ratchet glared at the minibot but was even more surprised when the bot didn't even cringe at his harsh look.

Instead Bumblebee's smile widened as he realised with relief that he was amongst friends.

'You ARE Ratchet aren't you? Oh man! Do I have a story to tell you!'

_**To be continued……………..**_

_Wow! These things seem to be getting longer every time I write one._

_Again I'm sorry it's taken me so long but I want to take my time and try and make this the best it can be and I thank you for staying with me. ^.^_


End file.
